Dewar's was the first blend to be advertised by electric sign and the first to produce a cinema advertisement - both products from the fertile mind of the irrepressible Tommy Dewar. By 1894 he had conquered the United States, established a global distribution network and created a following for his White Label brand which has stayed loyal ever since.

Although it was sold to Bacardi after the UDV merger, master blender Tom Aitken approaches his work in the same way as he has always done. Consistency is his mantra: 'The consumer wants his or her blend to be exactly the same every time,' he argues. 'The first role of any master blender is to lay down enough whiskies to ensure that consistency.' And he dare not change anything. '

When we changed the label, people complained about the quality of the whisky, even though we hadn't altered a thing. That label change had altered their perception of the brand - that's how closely people become attached to it'.

Malt from Aberfeldy remains at the core of the blend, but Tom is quick to dismiss the idea that the more malts there are in a blend, the better it is. 'One grain and one malt blend will be a disaster, but equally having 50 malts won't make the blend any better. The key is having consistency and balance'.

Unlike Dewar's, which has been a global brand since the 1890s, Glenmorangie's Bailie Nicol Jarvie is a hidden gem. Paradoxically, if you look at the two labels, it's BNJ which would appear to be the Victorian classic; it's evocative of a time when blends were the sophisticated drink.

Indeed, it's a pretty sophisticated dram. The sole grain is from North British, there's a 60 per cent malt content and those malts (with Glenmorangie making a rare appearance) are between eight and 17 years of age - and there's only eight of them.

'The quality of the malts gives the character, not the quantity,' explains Glenmorangie's Craig Taylor. 'We're using malts purely for their character, not to bulk up the blend'. It's a glorious success and if malt aficionados consider blends as being beneath them, they should try this. Instant conversion awaits.

DEWAR'S Tommy Dewar knew what he was doing when he set off around the world in 1893. If James Buchanan (see page 93) was the gentleman, Tommy was the prankster and he soon established White Label as the biggest-seller in the US. When UD and IDV merged, Dewar's was forcibly sold off, and was snapped up by Bacardi. Quite what its secretive new owner is planning no-one knows.

TASTING NOTES

Dewar's White Label

Light, with good malty notes and a touch of lemon meringue pie and honey. Soft and easy, with a lemon/ginger malt-driven mid-palate. ***

BNJ Named after a fictional character in Walter Scott's Rob Roy, Bailie Nicol Jarvie first appeared in the 1860s, but was reformulated in 1994 by owner Glenmorangie, though it still sports a wonderfully anachronistic Victorian label.

TASTING NOTES

Bailie Nicol Jarvie

Medium weight, with flowers, vanilla, pears and apples on the nose. Very subtle and rounded, bursting with malty flavours. Superb length. * ? * * *